Why Adding Avocado to Your Diet Might Lower Your Cholesterol

Let me remind you of something: Making health decisions based on bad information can kill you.

Yes, I have seen that. You probably have too. So, please, please vet your sources.

I bring this up because I have a family member right now who believes that all health woes can be solved with avocados. That is why this new study attracted my attention.

The Study

Researchers ran a 3-week trial where people followed two different diets, with a 2-week break in between. The big difference? One diet included a whole avocado every day (about 180 grams). To keep people from knowing which diet they were on, the researchers swapped avocado for butter and sugar in everyday foods like muffins and salad dressing. They even added green food coloring so the foods looked similar.

What They Found

The avocado diet produced some impressive results compared to the control diet:

• Non-HDL cholesterol dropped 4.7%
• Triglycerides dropped 17.4%
• VLDL cholesterol dropped 9.3%
• Blood sugar, insulin levels, and blood pressure didn’t change much between the two diets.

Why This Matters

Non-HDL cholesterol is a key marker doctors look at when checking your heart disease risk. It tracks all the “bad” cholesterol particles that can get stuck in your artery walls and cause plaque buildup. Lowering this number is a big deal for heart health.

Past studies on avocados have shown mixed results. So why did this study work better? The answer is in what the avocado replaced. By swapping out butter and sugar, the avocado diet ended up with less saturated fat, less sugar, more healthy monounsaturated fats, and way more fiber (33 grams vs. 19 grams).

The Triglyceride Surprise

The 17.4% drop in triglycerides was bigger than what other studies have found. There are a few likely reasons. First, the people in this study already had high triglycerides, so they had more room to improve. Second, cutting sugar (especially fructose) is one of the best ways to lower triglycerides, and this diet did exactly that.

The Bottom Line

Avocados aren’t magic on their own. The real win comes from using them to replace less healthy foods. Their healthy fats, fiber, plant compounds, and natural plant sterols all work together to improve your cholesterol numbers — but only when they’re pushing out the butter and sugar in your diet.

If you want better heart health, don’t just add an avocado to your day. Use it to crowd out the stuff that’s hurting you.

So, here is my bigger takeaway. Any claim that a particular food is a super food that solves all problems should be taken with a gigantic grain of salt. However, eating healthy is always a good choice. If you are replacing healthy foods with unhealthy foods, that is going to be a win.

That is the right way to look at avocados and any other healthy food.

Photo by Olga Zhushman on Unsplash